Not a single college from Uttar Pradesh made it to the countrywide ranking of educational institutions by the Union human resource development ministry.

Not just degree colleges, even the nearly century-old Lucknow University does not figure among the top 100 universities in the countrywide ranking of educational institutions by the Union human resource development ministry. (HT file)

Not a single college from Uttar Pradesh made it to the countrywide ranking of educational institutions by the Union human resource development ministry.

Delhi’s Miranda House topped the list of degree colleges and Loyola College in Chennai and Shri Ram College were the second and third-best in India.

The ranking were released earlier this week.

They are crucial because government funding for institutions are dependent on them. Schools that do well in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) will also be favourably viewed for greater autonomy and more international exposure, the government said.

More than 3,300 institutes were considered for the survey, which was first published in 2016 but didn’t include colleges because the response was poor.

The institutes were marked on 20 parameters under the NIRF that was launched last year.

The criteria used to rank the institutions included teaching/learning resources, research, graduation outcomes (employability), outreach/ social and gender inclusivity and perception. The government said it emphasised on the quality of research and employer perception during the exercise.

Uttar Pradesh has more than 5,600 colleges, including 138 government and 331 aided institutions. Not just degree colleges, even the nearly century-old Lucknow University does not figure among the top 100 universities in the country.

Education experts said several factors help an institute thrive and good teachers and funding form a base for excellence.

“Poor teacher-taught ratio and poor funding by the state government are to be blamed for the poor show by degree colleges of UP. The practice of hiring and firing part-time teachers has largely affected the quality of teaching in colleges,” Bhoomittra Dev, the former vice-chancellor of Agra University, said.

Some even said the rankings are not a true reflection of the situation.

“It is shocking to know that not a single college of Uttar Pradesh has found a place in the list. The bubble was to burst as the colleges were manipulating rankings,” Manoj Dixit, professor and head of Lucknow University’s public administration department, said.

Amrita Dass, a career counsellor, said the ranking was skewed because many renowned institutions, which are mentioned in other rankings do not find a place in the top 100.

“It is possible that many leading campuses did not participate. The final report should mention this fact otherwise it is misleading,” said Dass.

A few UP universities did find a place in the overall list of top 100 varsities: Banaras Hindu University was ranked third while Aligarh Muslim University was ranked 11.

Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow was ranked fourth and IIM Ahmedabad first, IIM Bangalore second and IIM Calcutta third among the top B-schools of the country.

In 2016, IIM Bangalore was number one ahead of IIM Ahmedabad. IIM Calcutta and IIM Lucknow, however, retained their third and fourth rank respectively.

“Slightly disappointed at not being number 3. We now plan to focus on fresh recruitment and research, the two parameters that are holding us back. Fresh recruitment of research-oriented faculty, and a greater thrust on B and A category journals,” IIM-L director Ajit Prasad said.